"Warning! There is a 100% chance the One Year Program will make you a better comic. Before I took the program, I took a stand-up class and then spent my nights watching sitcoms. Now I'm performing three and four nights a week at Gotham, Gotham Comedy Club and Stand-Up New York and getting sent out every week for auditions by Paradigm and HWA.

"So be careful. If you're not ready to give up your Hogan's Heroes reruns – Stay Away!"
– Libby Di Sesa

"As a direct result of the One Year Program and the American Comedy Institute Industry Showcase, here’s what’s happened for me all within a month after our graduation show:
An NBC casting director attended the show and set up a meeting for me in Burbank, CA with the NBC casting department. I am now under consideration for roles on Law and Order, 3rd Watch and three other NBC series filming in New York.
I've become a writer for a new sketch comedy show on PAX. I am freelancing with 4 agencies- Innovative Artists, Abrams, Ingber & Associates and Paradigm and being sent on auditions weekly.
I have a stand up set that is killing in the A clubs in NYC, at the Comedy Store and Laugh Factory in L.A., and Cobbs in San Francisco.

"If you want a fast and direct ride from where you are to where you want to be- take the one year program."
– Rahul Siddharth

"The One Year Program taught me the discipline to be a pro. Its expert faculty brings together all the skills you need to make comedy a paying career. The positive atmosphere gave me the courage I needed to take huge risks in my work. I never felt judged. I felt supported and my performances became more fun and more successful."
– Carla Johnson

The One-Year Professional Comedy Program Prepares Students for Careers in Comedy

This unique, comprehensive program is a fast track to the world of Film, TV, acting, writing and comedy clubs. It is a comedy workshop like no other.

• Learn Stand-Up Comedy, Sketch-Comedy, Sitcom and Commercial audition technique, Acting, Improv and Sitcom Writing
• Develop your writing and performing skills
• Study with pros in the comedy field
• Showcase your talent for casting directors, agents and managers at Gotham Comedy Club
• Receive individual attention in each of the program's comedy workshops

Its faculty has taught students who have appeared on The David Letterman Show, The Conan O'Brien Show, HBO, Comedy Central Presents, Premium Blend, Apollo Comedy Hour, MTV, and VH-1. They have made development deals with CBS, ABC, Fox, Paramount, the Henson Company and Tribune Entertainment to star in their own sitcoms. The have appeared in starring and principle roles in such sitcoms as That 70's Show, Ed, Welcome to New York, Ellen and Seinfeld.

They are appearing in motion pictures, one-person shows, national commercials, and on Broadway and off-Broadway stages. They are appearing at the Montreal, Aspen and Toyota Comedy Festivals and in virtually every club in New York and Los Angeles, and in clubs across the country and around the world.

They have written for Saturday Night Live, The Chris Rock Show, The Dennis Miller Show, Norm Show , and Married with Children . The movies they have written include In the Company of Men, Nurse Betty, and Urban Legend.

Our philosophy

Our philosophy at the American Comedy Institute is that the best comedy training does three things. One, it helps you find your own comic voice – what is original and different and wonderful about your sense of humor. Two, it teaches you how to communicate your unique comedy skillfully, fearlessly and entertainingly to the largest possible audience. And three, it instills love and respect for comedy and its capacity to help us survive by showing us that we can face the truth – and laugh!

It is our belief that by offering our students training, performing opportunities, and information, and by introducing their work to the entertainment industry, we are significantly enhancing their capability to pursue comedy as a career.

–Stephen Rosenfield, Director

Course offerings

Stand-Up Comedy

With intense training from award-winning comedy director Stephen Rosenfield, you learn how to write and perform stand-up comedy. As part of your training you perform at Gotham Comedy Club, Stand-Up New York and other major New York clubs.

Comedy Writing

This course covers the fundamentals of comedy writing with special reference to the techniques of writing for movies, television sitcoms, talk shows, sketch shows and monologues. The course examines the language, structures, and process of developing comedy material from concept to final draft. It focuses on how to pitch story ideas, how to write and rewrite a script, how to write as part of a team, how to get an agent, and land a comedy writing job.

Improvisation

Train as a theater improv group and learn to create comedy without a script. Through structured exercises you develop your spontaneity, free up your creativity, and sharpen your wit. As part of the course work you perform improv shows that consist of improv games, comedy scenes, and songs.

Sketch Comedy

Learn how to write and perform Saturday Night Live-style sketch comedy. You become part of a writing and performing ensemble. Just like the staff of Saturday Night Live, you have one week to write, rehearse and produce a sketch comedy show. On Saturday night your show will be performed in front of a live audience.

Sitcom Audition Technique

In this on-camera course you work with the actual scripts used for sitcom auditions. You learn how to analyze these scripts in ways that lead to strong, memorable acting choices. You learn on-camera techniques that insure that your audition has impact when viewed on tape. Further, you learn how to respond to direction, so that you give casting directors the performance they are looking for.

Acting

This course provides students with a solid foundation in acting technique. Students learn how to create believable and exciting emotion, behavior, and characters for television, movies, and the stage.

Commercial Audition Technique

This on-camera course teaches students how to use their sense of humor to book commercials. It is co-taught by the head of the commercial department of a major bi-coastal talent agency (The Screen Actors Guild prohibits printing his name) and a successful commercial actor.

Industry Presentation

The One Year Program culminates in an Industry Showcases at Gotham Comedy Club, where students perform both their stand-up and sketch comedy. Casting directors from CBS, ABC, NBC, HBO, MTV, Paramount, WB, and Nickolodeon, along with leading agents, managers, and bookers have seen the work of The One Year Program's graduating students.

Faculty and Application:

See the faculty for the One-Year Program.

Print the application form for the One-Year Program.